


?tahW wonK uoY

by Chessmaster_Omeyrolx



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-14
Updated: 2015-04-14
Packaged: 2018-03-22 23:22:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3747379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chessmaster_Omeyrolx/pseuds/Chessmaster_Omeyrolx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My own personal, alternative ending to The House of Hades that I wrote for my English 10 class, and the first ever thing I've posted on this website. Hope you enjoy! (Constructive criticism is appreciated, but not necessary.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	?tahW wonK uoY

**Author's Note:**

> P.S. I apologize in advance for any "unfaithful" representations of any and all characters you may feel there are.

At sunset, Percy found Nico tying ropes around the pedestal of the Athena Parthenos.

“Thank you,” Percy said.

Nico frowned. “What for?”

“You promised to lead the others to the House of Hades,” Percy said. “You did it.”

Nico tied the ends of the ropes together, making a halter. “You got me out of the bronze jar in Rome. Saved my life yet again. It was the least I could do.”

His voice was steely, guarded. Yet inside, Nico felt so exposed. His experience with Jason Grace in Split, Croatia still left him feeling naked. They both had to face the god of love, Cupid (who is NOT the little cute and innocent winged baby everyone thinks he is), to obtain the sceptre of Diocletian. However, in the process, Nico was forced to reveal his biggest secret to Jason, the one thing he wanted no one to find out. There were rumors of how he had a crush on Annabeth, Percy’s girlfriend, when the two had saved him and his sister Bianca. Those rumors went on for years, and practically still exist. In the end though, they were just that, rumors.

The truth was far more embarrassing.

Had he been in his original time period, in the 1940s, he would have been shunned for what his secret is, or worse, extremely worse. From that moment on, when he was saved by Annabeth and Percy, with how Percy looked as he fought off the manticore that day, when he looked into Percy’s sea-green eyes when he said he’d protect his sister, Nico had……feelings…for him. Even when Percy said he wasn’t able to keep his word, when Nico had summoned the undead in rage, he couldn’t make them attack him. The rumors may say he has a crush on Annabeth, but to be honest, he prefers it to be that way, to keep everyone in the dark by having the stories keep his true feelings, well, in the dark. But NOOOO, Cupid just HAD to show up and expose it to a guy he barely even knew, a guy Nico had no idea how he’d react to such a secret a guy like Nico had. Jason said that he would keep quiet about it, but Nico has already had a painful experience with promises in the past, so he wasn’t sure how long it would stay under wraps.

Though, right now, Nico felt like he had nothing to hide. No shame. Is it because his secret is known? Or was confessing his secret create something? It’s as if he……no, never mind.

After listening to Percy’s story about how he and Annabeth travelled through Tartarus, a place he knows far too well after being trapped in a giant bronze jar, Nico, Praetor Reyna and Coach Hedge are now ready to shadow-travel to Camp Half-Blood and take the Athena Parthenos there to keep the Greek and Roman demigods from fighting each other to the death.

“All right,” said Nico. “Grab the ropes, please. Here we go.” Doing so, Reyna and Coach Hedge grabbed onto the ropes that were keeping the statue on Nico’s shoulders like a giant backpack. As the air darkened, Nico couldn’t help but feel something stir inside of himself. As Percy and Annabeth, his girlfriend, watched as they began to disappear under the Athena Parthenos’s shadow, he couldn’t help but look into Percy’s eyes. His sea-green eyes shined to Nico with what looked like encouragement and faithfulness, and he couldn’t stop such a warm feeling that was developing inside of him. Bigger, bigger, until Nico felt he couldn’t stand it anymore. You know what, he thought. I don’t care what anyone thinks. I…I…

Nico lunged forward with one foot in front and one foot in back, grabbing Percy by his shirt. Using his other hand, he put a firm grip on Percy’s neck as Nico leaned upward to kiss him. It was only for about two seconds, but in that short two seconds that felt like two hours, Nico felt, happy. It was as if every anxiety he ever had in the world didn’t matter to him. For once in a long time, if ever, Nico di Angelo felt free, he didn’t care how the others watching this reacted, he didn’t care if he would be hated for what he did, all he cared about was perhaps the greatest moment he had ever created for himself. As he let go of his grip on Percy, realizing his face felt hot, the statue strapped on Nico’s back collapsed into its own shadow and vanished, along with its three escorts. However, Nico was able to see a split-second view of Percy before being swallowed by the darkness. A red, flustered and wide-eyed face was what Nico saw, as he knowingly let a part-happy, part-relieved and part-joking grin spread on his face. You know what, he thought again as the shadows sucked him in, I don’t know why but, that felt..............nice.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it, thank you for reading!  
> (On a side note, I haven't read the next and last book yet, so no spoilers in the comments, please! Thank you.)


End file.
